Dupont Settles 220 Benlate Lawsuits

$214 Million Agreement Means More Than Half Of 560 Cases Have Been Resolved

April 23, 1994|By JOHN KENNEDY Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — DuPont Co. on Friday agreed to pay $214 million to settle 220 lawsuits involving the fungicide Benlate, just days after Florida agriculture scientists claimed the product may have contained a potent plant killer.

The settlement is the biggest single-day development in a case that has spanned three years and prompted 560 lawsuits against DuPont.

About 100 Florida growers took part in the settlement, attorneys said.

Benlate has been suspected of damaging $1 billion worth of crops and landscape plants in the state, with Central and South Florida's nursery industry hit the hardest.

The other suits settled on Friday had been brought by growers in Hawaii and Central America.

DuPont Vice President John Schmutz said the company continues to maintain that Benlate "is not responsible for alleged crop damage."

"At the same time, the disheartening but pervasive economies are that, in most of these Benlate cases, litigation costs exceed settlement costs," Schmutz said.

Benlate was pulled off the market in March 1991, after complaints of plant and crop damage first emerged.

Two years ago, DuPont paid $500 million to settle some Florida claims. But the company later shut down the settlement process while denying responsibility for any damage.

Friday's action means more than half of the 560 Benlate lawsuits brought against DuPont since 1991 have been resolved, the company said.

On Monday, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Bob Crawford said that department researchers had found that eight samples of Benlate tested contained sulfonyl urea - a powerful herbicide.

The compound often is sold commercially under the brand name Londax. Small amounts are used by grain farmers and highway crews to rid wide areas of plants, department officials said.

DuPont said its own, more extensive research has never found any herbicide in Benlate. But Crawford said the sulfonyl urea contamination probably occurred accidentally at DuPont manufacturing sites.

"This settlement will help a substantial number of growers put their farming operations back in order to get on with their lives," Crawford said.

DuPont and Fort Lauderdale lawyer Kevin Malone, who represented growers, said negotiations were nearing a conclusion before Crawford's announcement.

"The commissioner and his allegations had nothing to do with it," said Pat Getter, a DuPont spokeswoman.

Malone said, "These negotiations were very, very close by then."

None of those involved would provide further details of the agreement.

Getter also said the settlement would not affect the roughly 200 lawsuits still being contested by DuPont.

"They are all in various stages of litigation and we have no plans to negotiate on any of them," Getter said.